replacement for 3Dfx Voodoo 3 2000 AGP video card

I'm interested in upgrading my video card, any ideas? I'm not looking for the latest generation card, nor am I interested in upgrading my entire system.

Preferably a video card that will handle T& L and support for Direct-X 8 or 9. I'm a gamer, and some of my games won't work because of graphics issues.

SYSTEM SPECS:

CPU:....Intel Pentium III 450 Mhz. MMX
MOBO:....Biostar M6TZA w/ Intel 82440 ZX Chipset
RAM:.....384 Mb. SDRAM (PC-100)

GRAPHICS CARD:.. 16 Mb. 3Dfx Voodoo 3 2000 AGP

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks,...

Anything you replace it with nowadays will be many, many times faster than the Voodoo3. Your goal in the upgrade should probably be to get a good graphics card, that's far better than your CPU can keep up with, and <b>plan on upgrading the rest of your computer</b> to match it. I'm sorry, but a P3 450 will not play any DirectX 9 games. Probably not DirectX 8 games either. That's DirectX 4 or 5 era hardware. (so don't plan on getting Doom3 and HL2 and Far Cry!) Your CPU has to be at least four times that speed to handle the modern games.

So, depending what your money situation is, get a good graphics card and save your way into a new mobo/cpu/ram, or upgrade the video card to something cheap so that you can play slightly more modern games than you currently can, but not the new ones.

Actually, you might be BEST off just not upgrading until you have the money for a full system ($700 to $1000), because whatever you buy won't get you where you want to be anyway, and that way you'll end up with better hardware when you finally do get to where you can play what you want to play.

It did not sound like you were in a position to upgrade or build a new system... that is a whole new ballgame. But if you want to make SOME DX8 games playable with your 450MHz CPU, find a used Ti4200 or an ATI 9100 for under $50 and just go for it. Even a cheaper GF2 or GF3 or GF4 or ATI 7000 or 7500 would be a step up, and all can be found fairly cheap.

To get a newer card than that would require a newer everything... if you can do it, then go for it... give us a clue about what game or games you NEED to play...

Ya, if you want a card to play Doom3, you are doomed....

<font color=red><b>NF7-S/MBarton 2500+
210x11.5 1.82v SP-97
GB Corsair XMS PC3200
BBA 9800 Pro 423/369</font color=red><font color=black>
NF7-S/MBarton 2600+
210x11.5 1.76v
512MB CVR PC3200
Sapphire 9500@9700

Wow, talk about old school!

Anyways, you said "I'm a gamer" but what games specifically do you expect to play?

I wouldn't spend a cent until you figure out specifically which games you expect or want to play and then let us here tell you which games would or would not work.

The only games I can think of working on a 450Mhz processor, is either old RTS games or a few Quake 3 engine games, maybe would work.

Anything from this century.

<font color=blue>AthlonXP-M 2500+(12x200)</font color=blue>|<font color=green>Abit NF7-S</font color=green>|<font color=red>Kingston DDR400 2x256Mb</font color=red>|<font color=purple>NEC Accucync90 19"</font color=purple>|<font color=black>Sapphire 9600XT</font color=black>

Funny...

<font color=red><b>NF7-S/MBarton 2500+
210x11.5 1.82v SP-97
GB Corsair XMS PC3200
BBA 9800 Pro 423/369</font color=red><font color=black>
NF7-S/MBarton 2600+
210x11.5 1.76v
512MB CVR PC3200
Sapphire 9500@9700

Personally I think an Etch-a-sketch would be a better graphics card.

<font color=green><b><i>Lizards</font color=green></b> do <b>not</b> taste like <b><font color=yellow>chicken</font color=yellow></b>,<b> <font color=yellow>chicken</font color=yellow></b> tastes like <font color=green><b>lizard.</b></font color=green></i>

On that system, I don't think a Ti4200 will outperform a R8500 or GF3 for that matter. Very rarely if ever would you see a difference. Any of those will do, just don't spend alot on it.

Check out the cpu scaling <A HREF="http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/gf4intelscaling/page9.asp" target="_new">here</A> on a PIII 700MHz & 1.0GHz. It takes high res in all three games tested to seperate A GF2Ti, GF3, GF4. Now drop the cpu to a 450MHz and I'm thinking it's easy to buy too much card for that system.

MSI K8N Neo2 platinum, A64 3000+, 1GB Corsair XMS 4000 Pro Series, Radeon 9800 Pro

at very least, a new graphics card might let him run at really really high resolutions with antialiasing on before his 8fps to 15fps start to decline. But if he bought a good card, he would have that good card when he later has enough money (or is due an xmas gift) for buying a new mobo / cpu / ram / power supply.

By the way watch out for power requirements. Some of the cards you might look at might require an AGP slot that can provide high wattage through the slot (aka AGP Pro) and/or a power supply over 350 to 400 watts. (if you get a card that was in the high end of its bracket when it was released.)